Whiting: Is opposing Vietnam visits helping?

Dec. 4, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Neil X. N. Nguyen waves both American and Vietnamese flags during a protest at Cypress College in 2009 over a photo believed by the protesters to be communist propaganda. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Members of the Vietnamese American community in Orange County celebrate on Nov. 19 following a vote by the Santa Ana City Council in support of the idea of a resolution that would seek to discourage official visits to the city by representatives of communist Vietnam. RON GONZALES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Members of Orange County's Vietnamese community protest over a photography exhibit at Cypress College in 2009. Protesters believed the photo work to be communist propaganda. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Members of Orange County's Vietnamese community protest over a photography exhibit at Cypress College in 2009. Protesters believed the photo work to be communist propaganda. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Neil X. N. Nguyen waves both American and Vietnamese flags during a protest at Cypress College in 2009 over a photo believed by the protesters to be communist propaganda. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Whiting on white supremacy

Whiting on white supremacy

What: "Wine tasting with a purpose" will have Columnist David Whiting as a guest speaker discussing his recent six-part series on racism, hate crimes and white supremacy. The evening also features conversation and six wines in two flights and includes appetizers.

There is a time to fight and there is a time to heal – and still engage.

Several Orange County city councils are passing resolutions discouraging Vietnam's officials from visiting because of that nation's human rights violations.

Now, I'm no fan of Communist repression. But I am a fan of dialogue.

Especially when it involves people who need a good talking to.

Here's what Kenneth Nguyen, Santa Ana's ambassador to the city's Vietnamese community, said in calling for the resolution:

"We do not want (Vietnam officials) to go around the city of Santa Ana to remind us of the terrible images of torture, human rights violations, religious abuses and no freedom."

But as difficult as it may be, perhaps Orange County is better off being reminded of those images – and addressing the people responsible.

• • •

Dialogue aside, if you aren't part of the Vietnamese refugee experience, it's difficult to understand the depth of anger and pain.

Tens of thousands of Orange County residents suffered terribly in Vietnam. Many saw friends and relatives killed. Most know people in their motherland who still suffer.

After Saigon fell, 165,000 people died in "re-education" camps. Thousands were abused or tortured. Some prisoners were incarcerated for nearly two decades.

Things have improved. But not enough.

Garden Grove Mayor Pro Tem Dina Nguyen, who came to America two years after Saigon fell, tells me that she and other Vietnamese Americans receive daily emails detailing horrors. Nguyen points out that, among other human-rights violations, Buddhists and Catholics are jailed without cause.

"What's happening is despicable."

Garden Grove recently updated its resolution against official visits from Vietnam. Next week, Westminster is expected to follow. Coincidently next week, Westminster also is scheduled to swear in its first Vietnamese mayor, Tri Ta.

Born in Saigon, Ta arrived in the U.S. in 1992 when he was 19. Now married, he's earned a bachelor's degree, runs a nail-salon magazine and has nearly finished his master's in international relations.

Ta and I discuss what I consider a thorny issue, and what Ta considers a no-brainer. "Human rights and democracy are basic human rights," Ta tells me. "The fact is that, after 37 years, Vietnamese Communists still violate human rights.

Ta asks, "How are we going to talk to them if they still violate human rights, if they're still arresting people?"

• • •

In essence, the resolutions ask city representatives to refrain from encouraging visits by Vietnam's officials and require 14-day advance notification for safety assistance during such visits.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido had a news conference shortly before the November election to announce support for the anti-Communist resolution. Fellow council members criticized the timing but agreed in principle.

Pulido tells me he was moved to push for the resolution after seeing a video of a crying woman in Vietnam telling about her son being incarcerated. He calls the resolution symbolic.

"We need to make a statement in favor of human rights," Pulido said, explaining, "This is being requested strongly by the Vietnamese community."

At a Santa Ana November council meeting, resolution supporters waved South Vietnam yellow and red flags as well as the Stars and Stripes. They are understandably furious and have every right to demand whatever they think is necessary.

There's a moment in the movie "Lincoln" – a moment repeated in Bill O'Reilly's book, "Killing Lincoln" – when the 16th president sets the tone for a postwar nation.

Instead of prosecuting the Confederacy for being responsible for the deaths of 625,000 Americans, O'Reilly writes, Lincoln only asked the rebels for "the promise of a hasty return to their families, farms and stores where they can once again work in peace."

Did Lincoln's action prevent future human-rights violations such as lynching? Jim Crow history shows that it did not.

But the president did set the tone for reconciliation, a reconciliation that evolves to this day.

Each organization is critical of many nations. Here are highlights of countries with large numbers of immigrants in Orange County:

China, source State Department: "Extrajudicial killings, including executions without due process; enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention, including prolonged illegal detentions at unofficial holding facilities known as 'black jails'; torture and coerced confessions of prisoners."

Mexico, State Department: "Sometimes in the context of the fight against (cartels) but also at times unrelated to it, security forces reportedly engaged in unlawful killings, forced disappearances, and instances of physical abuse and torture."

Vietnam, State Department: "Continued police mistreatment of suspects during arrest and detention, including the use of lethal force, as well as austere prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention for political activities, and denial of the right to fair and expeditious trial."

And, for context, Human Rights Watch on the United States (The State Department didn't have a U.S. citation): "Federal government continues abusive counterterrorism policies, including indefinite detention and flawed military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. The criminal justice system is marred by racial disparities and harsh sentences."

Where do we draw the line?

• •

Nguyen says that with Orange County's history of thousands protesting Vietnam's Communists, the resolutions also should curtail police costs and ensure safety.

But when it comes to local resolutions that affect international relations, are politicians leading or following?

Former Register reporter Anh Do, now with the Los Angeles Times, wrote of Westminster's new mayor: "Ta will be expected to govern with one eye focused on émigré politics – the constant push for freedom in his homeland – to satisfy his countrymen."

Yes, other questions linger: Are residents of Orange County better off with political isolationism?

Perhaps more important, are people in Vietnam better off?

David Whiting's column appears four days a week; dwhiting@ocregister.com.

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